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The #1 Clue to Quantum Gravity Sits on the Surfaces of Black Holes

September 25, 2024

A black hole formula worked out in the 1970s remains the most concrete clue physicists have about the threads of the space-time fabric.

The Two Faces of Space-Time

September 25, 2024

A mysterious phenomenon known as duality often leads to new discoveries in physics. This time, space-time itself can sometimes be two things at once.

Q&A

The Logic That Must Lie Behind a New Physics

September 25, 2024

The philosopher Karen Crowther digs into how the space-time fabric could possibly emerge from something non-spatiotemporal.

The Thought Experiments That Fray the Fabric of Space-Time

September 25, 2024

These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.

John Wheeler Saw the Tear in Reality

September 25, 2024

Until his dying days, the giant of 20th-century physics obsessed over the underpinnings of space and time, and how we can all share the same version of them.

The Unraveling of Space-Time

This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the fundamental nature of reality.

The Search for What Shook the Earth for Nine Days Straight

September 12, 2024

Last year, an immense but brief outburst of seismic energy was soon followed by a long hum that made the world ring. Finding its cause took 68 scientists and an assist by the Danish military.

Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum?

September 12, 2024

The Industrial Revolution brought us the laws of thermodynamics, and new ideas about work, energy and efficiency. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with theoretical physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern about what these concepts might mean in the age of quantum mechanics.

The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change

September 4, 2024

An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool to probe the forces that bind the universe.

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